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When Mini first introduced the Countryman, it only came as a four-seater, with a center rail between the two seats that could house things like cup holders and could be slid back and forth. Buyers could even opt for a full-length center rail that ran from just aft of the gear shifter all the way back between the rear seats, like we did in our long-term 2011 Cooper S Countryman All4, shown above.

Not too long ago, the idea of doing a backflip seemed almost impossible on two wheels let alone four, but now the stunt is routinely performed using everything from dirtbikes to monster trucks. Now Mini is getting into the game by attempting to perform a backflip with French stuntman Guerlain Chicherit behind the wheel of a highly modified Countryman, which it claims is the first-ever attempt at doing so with a car.

Aside from the general lack of snow in the Midwest earlier this year that hampered our ability to properly play with our Blizzak-equipped Mini Contryman long-term test vehicle, the biggest problem we had with this crossover during the year we spent with it was the transmission. On four different monthly updates (September, October, November and June), all in the hands of different Autoblog editors, the Countryman's clutch was called out for being too finicky, leading to many stall outs. Apparent

Mini is walking away from the rear bucket seats in its Countryman crossover. MotoringFile.com reports that starting in 2013, the CUV will no longer offer just two seats in the second row. Originally, Mini was forced to offer the buckets due to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rules governing the the minimum vehicle width for the allowance of three-wide seating. That rule was recently changed, which allowed Mini to offer the bench seat. Not surprisingly, few buyers have opted for th

When you've been test-driving nearly every new vehicle on the market for as long as I have, you get to the point where you mostly know what to expect. Not that I or most other veteran car reviewers make up our minds about new products before we drive them, but certainly we formulate theories to go about testing once a new car lands in our driveway. More often than not, our experiments confirm our hypotheses. This can be a great triumph or a crushing let-down, but rarely does a vehicle manage to

Our long-term 2011 Mini Countryman is nearing the end of its year-long stay in the Autoblog Garage, the past six months of which have been spent bouncing back and forth between the various Detroit-based team members (and Cleveland – we mustn't forget about Herr Neff). And while we've all had plenty of time behind the wheel of the biggest Mini, this is one car that always seems to be in high demand, whether its for long road trips or just because we all really like driving the thing.

April was a busy month for the long-term 2011 Mini Countryman, with over 2,500 miles added to the odometer and a heaping helping of people and things passing through its doors. When I picked up the Countryman, I was impressed by the fact that all four of its winter tires were neatly stowed behind the front seats. However, the biggest of Mini models didn't fare so well when the rear seats were occupied.

When our friends at The Tire Rack told us they'd be sending over a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS-70 tires mounted on 17-inch Sport Edition alloy wheels for our long-term Mini Countryman, our minds were immediately filled with images of the little blue hatchback bounding along snowy roads with razor-sharp precision and confidence. Instead, editors Neff, Paukert and myself can literally count on one hand the number of times we actually had to drive the Mini on snowy/slushy roads. So much for winte

Literally two days after my last update about our long-term Mini Countryman, I found myself trudging through a snowstorm at 30 miles per hour on Interstate 94 along Michigan's west coast. I guess Mother Nature had heard my cries about not being able to test our Mini in the snow, and decided to reward me with super slippery roads and poor visibility for two and a half hours straight. Lovely.

As much as I detest the winter months here in Detroit, the truth is, I'm kind of bummed that we've only seen about a half-inch of snow so far this season. In fact, I was happy that our most recent snowfall actually started to stick to the parking lot across the street from my loft, simply so I could capture this photo of our long-term Mini Countryman with some powder on the ground. Two hours after I took this picture, it had all melted. Sigh.

The last time we updated you on our long-term 2011 Mini Cooper S Countryman All4, it was in Northern California with senior editor Lavrinc. Since then, we've driving the car down to Southern California, although not before it served as our mode of transportation for the Rennsport Reunion at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. We've also taken a trip to Phoenix to check out the Local Motors Rally Fighter (look for a feature soon), and driven the Countryman plenty around Los Angeles, doubling our car's mil